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Students in Engineering Technology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi have been
working on several funded research projects. This paper describes a project that has
involved a good number of minority students. The project involves the design and
development of a remotely operated vessel (ROV) that performs data logging in shallow
water environments. The ROV employs a sophisticated control system that allows both
remote control of the platform by a human operator as well as some measure of
autonomous operation. The system transmits environmental data wirelessly via a radio to
a control station in real-time. The paper will provide details about the project and most
recent developments.

Introduction

Engineering and engineering technology programs have used research for a variety of
purposes, including student recruitment [1, 2], student retention [3], outreach programs
that target minority students [4], and exposure to engineering research through
multidisciplinary projects [5]. Similarly, the engineering technology programs at Texas
A&M University-Corpus Christi (A&M-CC) have used applied research projects to help
“Recruit, Retain and Graduate a Diverse and Highly Qualified Student Body.” This
paper describes a research project in which a good number of minority students have
been involved. The project involves the development of a remotely operated vessel used
as a supplemental tool for our studies of South Texas Coastal waters. An important
application is data collection in shallow water areas - environments that often preclude
the use of traditional boats. Data collection in shallow water areas normally requires
setting up sensors in several places. In addition to being redundant and time consuming,
this task when performed manually has a high probability of disturbing the test area.
Obstacles encountered in such environments include difficulty in covering large
territories and the presence of inaccessible areas due to a variety of reasons such as a soft
bottom or contamination.

Two boats have been designed and constructed so far. The first prototype was led by
Wien Lohachit and the second prototype was led by Daniel Davis [6, 7]. The current
boat has a 60 inch long hull and 46 inches wide, with a height from rudder bottom to GPS
top of 36 inches. The ROV is operated wirelessly through a laptop equipped with a serial
port. After launching the program, the user is presented with a screen that displays visual
representations of the vessel’s pitch, roll, and rudder position. In the upper left hand
corner, a grouping of fields displays the GPS position of the ROV, its current true